Before Dandelion. Before Ciri. Before Blaviken and Brokilon and baths with Yennefer. Before Geralt found himself following destiny and doing all the impressive things for which he’s known, he was a fresh-faced teen stumbling through life, making poor decisions and hanging with people of questionable reputation. (Guess which version we find ourselves relating to!) “Crossroads of Ravens” is the new Witcher novel by author Andrzej Sapkowski that focuses on Geralt’s first year on the path. In this first of two episodes discussing the book, we uncap a bottle of Early Times Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon before engaging in a fairly spoiler-free conversation on important literary topics like Geralt getting his first leather jacket, possibly getting his v-card punched and whether the second time’s the charm when it comes to fighting strigas. Or would that be the first…? Prequels are confusing, guys!

We’re saying goodbye to Sigismund Dijkstra the best way we know how—with a bottle of actor Graham McTavish’s very own whiskey and a lively discussion of his final Season 4 episode! Over glasses of The Warchief Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon by McTavish Spirits, we consider whether the conniving spymaster may have finally been outplayed…and whether the hopes and dreams of Radskier shippers have been crushed in the process. Plus, Valerie wants to see the receipts when it comes to Francesca’s claims, Tim can’t tell his Vesemirs from his Vizimirs and we both think Mistle and Ciri REALLY need to work on their pet names. Give it a listen…FOR REDANIA!

In this discussion of Season 4’s third episode, we somberly discuss the tragic death of—um, who? Beata? Who the heck is Beata? Sadly, the young refugee was struck down just as we were getting to know…well, pretty much anything about her. But that’s okay, we have plenty of other things to discuss over our bottle of Hye-Land 12-Year Single Malt Armenian Whiskey. Like how Regis is clearly just a regular, ordinary human that just happens to have remarkable pain tolerance. And how wearing a bra on the outside of your dress may actually be quite practical. And how you really should aspire to do more with your magical abilities than to be turned into portal goo. But mostly how disappointed we were that Geralt of Rawvia and Yennefer of Bangerberg didn’t actually use that unicorn they had on stage. But hey, we DID get the debut of Leo Bonhart, who mercilessly took the life of—wait, what was that Witcher’s name again?

What's better than getting a chance to meet a Witcher author? How about meeting two? When Whiskey with Witcher Special Correspondent Rebekah Rodriguez-Lynn heard that Andrzej Sapkowski and Joey Batey—whose debut novel, “It's Not a Cult,” was just released in the UK—were both embarking on book tours at the same time, she couldn't resist a trip overseas. And we couldn't resist having her on the podcast to tell us all about it! What was it like meeting and hanging out with Batey's fans? How does he balance acting, writing and performing with his band? And is Sapkowski really as crotchety as people seem to think? Plus, Rebekah reveals what the Witcher creator thinks about the book's English translation, why he doesn't have favorite characters and whether “Crossroads of Ravens” is likely to be the last Witcher novel. The answers just might surprise you!

Season 4’s sophomore episode features some thieving Rats, a wandering Yen and a totally normal, not at all strange barber surgeon named Regis. Played by a scene-stealing Laurence Fishburne, Regis is also a home distiller and the reason we sought out a bottle of the gothic af Von Payne Black Blended Whiskey to pair this one with. (The fact that it also looks a little bit like blood is just a coincidence, we swear.) While we both agree that the newest member of Geralt’s hansa is a delight, we’re not at all aligned when it comes to choosing our favorite member of the Rats, deciding whether someone should give Jaskier a sword and counting up this week’s “Hmms.” But we’re still both very confused about what’s going on with Geralt’s pants, so at least there’s that.

Track: Johann Sebastian Bach - Toccata and Fugue in Dm, BWV 565

Provided by Classical Music Copyright Free [https://tinyurl.com/visit-cmcf]

Watch: https://youtu.be/jTN6ibiJ9bA?si=I_JwpFii-e_OtGDD

Season 4 has finally arrived and we’re welcoming it back in grand style with this look at its first episode—the good (hello, Liam…), the bad (…and Nimue…), and the WTF (…uh, Keira?!?). Over a bottle of Starward Two-Fold, Tim proudly redeclares his love for Milva, while Valerie finds much to appreciate in new character Stefan Skellen…even if she keeps getting him mixed up with Stellan Skarsgård. We also debate the merits of blood splatters, get to the bottom of Yen’s portaling problem and settle the question about which actor looks better in Geralt’s wig. Plus, we bring back our “hmm” count, elaborate on some book differences and shoot some terrible banana liqueur that haunts our nightmares to this day. In short, it’s a truly generous pour of an episode…and we’re just getting started!

Hold music: "Local Forecast - Slower" by Kevin MacLeod

The following preview episode has been approved for drunken audiences. Yes, we’re back, Witcher fans, and just in time for the debut of The Witcher’s fourth season! But before we get into the episodes, we’re filling our glasses and offering up some thoughts, opinions and sassy speculation on just what may await us. With Liam Hemsworth as our new Geralt and Laurence Fishburne vamping it up as Regis, there’s much to be excited about…and perhaps a few reasons for concern. We discuss both as we break down the season four trailer, zoom in on some recent key art (fix your hair, Ciri!) and discuss why sometimes a typo is just a typo. Plus, we explain our plan—or what passes for one around here—for our new podcast season. We’re hoping it’s our best one yet, so make sure you’re subscribed and that your bar’s fully stocked because you won’t want to miss a second of it!

There comes a time in the creation of every masterwork where the artist must put down their tools and declare the work done. And whaddya know, the same is true for drunken podcast seasons about art as well! We're finishing up our comics and animation season (while finishing up what's left of our favorite recent whiskeys) with some final thoughts on the topic. And to make sure they're as clear, concise and clever as possible, we start things off by doing a review shot...that somehow turns into two. Fortunately, we manage to keep our heads, if not exactly our dignity, for everything that follows, as we unpack what we enjoyed about The Witcher comics and animated movies and what we'd like to see going forward. Plus, we pick a few favorites and least favorites, offer some unsolicited advice and decide that what we really want to see is a crossover involving Geralt's horse and...well, you should just listen.

Hold music: "Local Forecast - Slower" by Kevin MacLeod

Our humor may be juvenile, but this week we're going all the back to grade school! We've locked up the liquor cabinet and broken out the Welch's juice and fruit snacks for a (mostly) family friendly conversation about The Little Witcher, the ridiculously cute new graphic novel drawn by Giada Carboni and written by the talented folks at CD Projekt Red. Is this new hardcover strictly for the kids? Or could it actually be aimed at their parents? Either way, the book's a must-read and this episode is a must-listen as we unpack some of The Little Witcher's unexpectedly resonant themes, consider the possibility that the Welch's founder may have been Santa Claus and discover that Tim was surprisingly straight-laced as a kid..at least when it came to his Oreos.

We’re taking you from the streets of Dallas all the way to the mountains of Kovir in our last side quest of the season. Newly returned from a trip to Texas, we discuss why we were there (it involves a bit of Witcher and a whole lot of whiskey) before we tear into this year’s Witcher-less Tudum. After that, we enter the world of gaming with a ten-year tribute to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and why even now we just can’t say no to Cerys. Finally, we wrap things up with a deep dive into the gorgeous new Witcher 4 tech demo in which we savor the breathtaking graphics as well as Ciri’s newfound sassiness. It’s a fun, free flowing episode that unlike a certain recent streaming live event, is filled to the brim with Witcher goodness!

Hold music: "Local Forecast - Slower" by Kevin MacLeod